Jason Schreier

“A great JRPG captures that feeling of going on an unusual adventure, of bringing a ragtag group of heroes from famine to fortune or steering cold-hearted villagers away from indifference.”

“Like any good RPG, 'Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning' is adept at digging its claws into that part of your brain that just loves accomplishing things.”

“Most strikingly, 'World of Warcraft' allows you to live a veritable second life. Girls can pretend to be boys; boys can pretend to be girls; human accountants can pretend to be elven mages.”

“Scrabble has always been immensely popular, so it's easy to see why online Scrabble is just as lauded.”

“I think there's this tradition of a culture of NDAs that has spanned all the way back to the '70s and '80s when game developers where very paranoid about cloning and people copying one another's ideas and business sabotage.”

“Music has always been an important part of the 'Final Fantasy' series. The popular role-playing games have typically featured catchy, eclectic soundtracks filled with beautiful orchestrated melodies.”

“As a massively multiplayer online RPG, 'The Old Republic' has no single-player components; you cooperate with and compete against other people in a virtual, persistently online recreation of the 'Star Wars' universe.”

“What Brad Bushman did is in 2010 he ran what's called a meta-analysis, which is an analysis that looks at a whole bunch of different studies. They concluded that, yes, there is a link between violent video games and aggression.”

“Modern video games like 'Mass Effect' and 'Uncharted' cost tens of millions of dollars and require the labor of hundreds of people, who can each work 80- or even 100-hour weeks.”

“Sure, when you think 'World of Warcraft,' you might picture the nerdier set - those who may have sacrificed hygiene and sleep to reach one more experience level. But the truth is that 'WoW' is populated with players of all sorts of backgrounds, from rural housewives to NFL punters.”

“I think the most insidious version of crunch is when you say, 'Hey, I'm working for this triple-A video game; I personally want it to be as good as possible, so I'm going to stay tonight until 10 P.M. to finish this feature.'”

“I've always been in favor of drastic transparency, radical transparency.”

“Though many of Obsidian's games have featured wry, sardonic humor, the developer has stuck to more serious fantasy and sci-fi themes.”

“In 'Amalur,' each person believes he has an immutable destiny, one that defines how, and how long, he will live. Until you come along. But of course, your character is the anomaly, somebody who can change both his own fate and the destinies of the people he interacts with. So, naturally, it's up to you to save the world.”

“There was once a time when 'Final Fantasy' meant greatness, when seeing Square's brand on a game box meant you were about to play something special. That time has long since passed.”

“Between 'The Godfather,' 'The Sopranos,' 'Goodfellas,' and the countless other mob stories that have been both critically and commercially acclaimed over the years, it's not hard to see why a game like 'Mafia Wars' works.”

“Kickstarter can get customers invested, both literally and figuratively, in a game before it is released. With nothing but an idea, a bit of video and a few screenshots, a developer can start building a loyal fan base.”

“It's impossible to know how 'fun' a game will be.”

“After the mediocre 'Final Fantasy XIII' and the sheer disaster that was 'Final Fantasy XIV,' many fans have lost faith in the RPG titan.”

“There are so many canceled games that people don't know about and so many stories people can't tell because they're restricted by this ridiculous culture of secrecy.”